Hong Kong Tourism Board plans to launch the “Festive Hong Kong 2010.” Its promotion is to be kicked off worldwide, focusing on Hong Kong’s traditional festivals and events following the “Food & Wine” festival held worldwide in 2009. Chikayoshi Kawahara, Manager-East Japan at HKTB explained that it aims to promote a “Dynamic Versatility of the allure that Hong Kong offers to its visitors,” by “focusing on the unique traditional aspects of Hong Kong, not just routinely promoting its diversified allure.” Marii Hayashi, Marketing Executive, Marketing Communications at HKTB joined him to show enthusiasm that HKTB endeavors to offer the visitors to Hong Kong unforgettable memories, experiencing the high quality travel at first hand.


The “Festive Hong Kong 2010” is to be launched throughout the year 2010, during which festivals and events will take place in six periods with the respective themes, attracting the visitors to Hong Kong. The month of May, for instance, will feature “Cultural Celebrations,” introducing “Cheung Chau Bun Festival,” “Birthday of Load Buddha” and “Birthday of Tam Kung.” From June through to August, an event called “Summer Spectacular” is to be held. From July 23 to 25, “Dragon Boat Carnival” will take place. In addition, September and October will see “Halloween Treats,” followed “Wine & Dine Month” in November and “Winter Festa” in December. The month of January and February in the year 2010 will observe the “Chinese New Year Celebrations.” Also, HKTB plans to further enhance its sales promotion with theme featuring nature, arts and crafts and culture of Hong Kong.

Besides, Hong Kong Tourism Board will also boost a promotion of Hong Kong’s stunning night view, which is exclusively for the Japanese market. The promotion started last year. HKTB, as it meant to add a value of more than “one million dollars” to its night view, asked, meanwhile, Motoo Marumaru, a famous night view critic, to analyze the night view of Hong Kong and “was consequently convinced of the further promotion in the Japanese market,” said Hayashi. At present, the Hong Kong’s night view promotion is said to have received an excellent reaction from the Japanese travel agencies. By mid may, HKTB intends to set up a website to convey information on the night view of Hong Kong.

According to Hayashi of HKTB, the number of Japanese visitor arrivals in Hong Kong during the month of January this year, although it is not officially announced, showed an excellent start for the year 2010 with the double-digit growth. The “Wine & Dine Month” promotion kicked off last year helped create an appealing image of “Hong Kong and Wine” including “Chinese Cuisine & Wine.” Last year alone, 14 wine auctions were held in Hong Kong. In terms of the number of wine auctions, she said that Hong Kong won second place, beating UK. Hong Kong Tourism Board expects the “Wine & Dine Month” to continue to have a prominent place in the “Festive Hong Kong,” added Hayashi of HKTB.


(Note: This article translated from Japanese into English)